With Spring Training underway and an early season-opening series in Japan set to happen on March 20, the regular season is just a swing away. This offseason has been one of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) most interesting, talked-about offseasons in the game’s history. Several of the game’s most talked-about names were scattered around the open free agent market, many still not with a team.
Just in these past weeks saw two big-name free agents signing major deals, including third baseman Manny Machado’s 10-year $300 million deal with the San Diego Padres. On Thursday, outfielder Bryce Harper topped that with a 13-year $330 million deal, the richest contract in MLB history. These two deals overshadowed the local baseball news of the Colorado Rockies Golden Glove and Silver Slugger-winning third baseman Nolan Arenado re-signing an eight-year $260 million extension deal.
With all these deals coming in just the past two weeks, questions are brought up now on why many stars have been holding out for long-term periods in the offseason. Furthermore, two high profile pitchers, Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrell, still are not signed to a team. Two questions arise: Why has high-profile free agency signing become such a long wait, and why are players now demanding especially large sums of dough?
One plausible answer to the first question is the current labor disputes between MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and the MLB Players Association headed by former MLB Player Tony Clark. Accusations have arisen from Clark’s grievances that players are remaining unsigned because MLB owners and the front office are pocketing money and not putting enough of it forth to suit the players’ needs, and thus MLB needs a new labor agreement.
MLB’s current collective bargaining agreement with the players, however, doesn’t expire until 2021, which gives the players union some time to negotiate. The recent signings might show some signs of improvement towards getting contract negotiations done. However, Clark still wants to talk with Commissioner Manfred on his concerns with some of the ways the players are being treated within the game, like how the rules currently stand with service time, which has kept teams keeping their top prospects in the minors for longer than they should to avoid free agency after seven years. This can especially have an impact on this season with one of the MLB’s most highly touted hitting prospects in recent history, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
Other focuses of the meeting will be on potential rule changes in the MLB, such as possibly speeding up the game by implementing a pitch clock, as the game is believed to be potentially losing popularity among the young generation due to the slowness of the game.
Commissioner Rob Manfred doesn’t believe that players taking longer to sign with teams is a huge issue concerning the MLB, that this is just how the game operates when an open market gets especially competitive. This could be an explanation to the second question on why players are demanding these record-breaking eight-digit contracts. Manfred believes that the negativity surrounding the game is really just a temporary issue.
“It is that gap during the offseason when people need things to talk about and write about that negativity seems to grow,” says Manfred. “I do believe that we have the greatest game in the world. I do think that when we get out there and start playing that positive glow around the game will re-emerge.”
This hope is carried mutually by baseball fans, as they hope that the MLB can reach a collective bargaining agreement to avoid a strike in the near future like the labor disputes in 1994 that led to a strike-shortened season.
